Drug Lord Book Review – Drugs, Sex and Speculation
Drug Lord is the 2nd book of 7 in the High Ground Novel Series, written collaboratively by Doug Casey and John Hunt. Drawing on Casey’s experience as an international speculator and Hunt’s career as a medical doctor, Drug Lord tells a riveting tale about Charles Knight as he transitions into one of society’s unjustly besmirched and most politically incorrect occupations, a drug lord.
For those who haven’t read the first book in the High Ground Novel Series, Speculator, here’s a quick snapshot of how the main character, Charles Knight, developed into the man that we meet in Drug Lord.
Speculator tells the story of Charles Knight as he finds himself in the fictional West African country of Gondwana, where he’s performing his due diligence and investigating a junior gold mining company in which he has a major position.
What Knight finds will forever change him, because he’s given a crash course in some of the evils that lurk in our world. Knight is a curious young man of high moral character and, thus, won’t allow the fraud that he has uncovered to go without repercussion. Read my review of Speculator here.
Drug Lord
Drug Lord takes place seven years after Knight uncovers B-F Exploration’s fraud, and he’s making his way back to the United States, where he’s planning to use the culmination of what he’s learned, thus far, in his young life to disrupt the hypocritically governed pharmaceutical industry.
Knight’s plans are two-fold; distribute cheap generic brands of a few immensely popular drugs, including Viagra, and take a large speculative position in a small drug development company, Visioryme. This two pronged plan forces Knight to use his intuition and street smarts to navigate both the Federal Drug and Administration (FDA) hurdles and establish himself on the streets as a drug lord.
Knight is opposed by agents of the FDA, DEA, the newly formed Sybillene Eradication Task Force (SETF) and the return of Sabina Heidel, the sociopathic vixen from Speculator. The opposition is fierce and will stand at nothing to stop Knight, not even the killing of innocents.
Morality
In my opinion, the major theme found throughout the book is morality, and more specifically, living a moral life is not only a personal pursuit, but something that you should look for in other people, as well. Knight holds himself and the people he calls friends to a high moral standard. In a conversation between Knight and his business associate, Epsilon, where Epsilon asks why Knight let ‘the Fat Man,’ a drug cartel leader, live, Knight replies;
“I don’t know if it was wise, Epsilon…But the Fat Man didn’t attack us. So, for better or worse, I think we had no choice. Epsilon replies, ‘Let’s hope it works out for the best, Paladin.’ Charles frowned. In the dictionary, hope falls between hell and hysteria.†~Drug Lord – pg.226
This is a very important conversation for two reasons: Firstly, Knight’s decision to not kill ‘the Fat Man’ was based on his morals; if the person hasn’t done wrong to me, I can’t do wrong to them. This ideology is the basis for how Knight acts and reacts to the world around him.
Secondly, from a speculation perspective, whenever you’re hoping for an outcome instead of having a calculated reason to believe in an outcome, you and your speculation are most likely doomed.
Anti-Depressant to Naked Emperor
A pivotal point in the story, Knight finds himself in the Capital Building before a committee of government officials. Knight has been called before this committee because Visioryme’s drug, Sybillene, a newly FDA-approved anti-depressant medication, is revealed to be a ‘truth serum,’ so to speak. When 10 times the recommended dosage is taken, it allows people to see through the smoke and mirrors of everything that’s a fraud in our society.
This off-label use is a threat not only to institutions like the FDA, but up to the highest cog on the chain, the United States government. While the committee believes Knight will back down from their evil and immoral pursuit of shutting down the distribution of Sybillene, Knight has other ideas.
Knight says,
“There are essentially four ways to deal with evil. You can bow to it, and let it rule you. You can pretend it doesn’t exist. You can try to run, and hope it won’t find you. Or you can confront it, and attack it. Only the last alternative has a chance of success of more than a moment.†~Drug Lord – pg.244
These courageous words speak a lot of truth; in the face of evil or adversity, what will you do? In my opinion, most of society pretends evil doesn’t exist, shutting off their ability to critically think through the trials and tribulations that are and will affect us as a society in the future.
Instead, the ‘thinking’ is left to government officials, primarily sociopaths, that seek to control and proliferate an agenda which doesn’t have the population’s best interests at heart. On a personal level, the older I get, the more I think that people are really only capable of effectively governing themselves, because although this comes with the stigma of being selfish, living our lives by a set of morals and the intention of our own success allows everyone in the society to prosper.
Concluding Thoughts
Today, in 2017, we stand on the precipice of major change because the world financial system is broken and will inevitably need to change. How and by whom it is changed will speak volumes about where society is from a cognitive perspective.
Sybillene or Naked Emperor, as it became more popularly known in the book, could be a metaphor for future events, however, it will come down to a choice; more of the status quo or can we make a dramatic change in the direction of liberty? Time will tell if we are true to ourselves.
To conclude, Drug Lord is a fantastic follow up in the High Ground Novel Series, one that will keep you glued to your seat as you follow Knight in his journey. Â There are many lessons to be gleaned from this story, but at the very least, it’s highly entertaining! You won’t be disappointed.
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Until next time,
Brian Leni P.Eng
Founder – Junior Stock Review
